<p>My son actually got into a frat but my friend's son didn't. I have another friend who's daughter didn't get into a sorority a couple of years ago. They both say that you have really, really bad housing choices and basically are "screwed". But I thought only 30% of Cornell goes Greek.</p>
<p>Yes, that is true, its only about 30%. Also its an overstatement to say that you only have really bad housing choices. It really depends on the time you get in the lottery. If the friend’s son gets a good early time, or has other friends he can block with that get a good time, then for sophomore year at least he could have just fine housing choices.</p>
<p>When do you know what your time is? Would he already know that he has a bad lottery time?</p>
<p>It is only 30%, but IMO that 30% dominates the social scene and holds most of the power brokers.</p>
<p>As for housing, the system here sucks and if you don’t get an early timeslot then you are in fact screwed. Should have looked ahead and gotten an apartment while he still could have.</p>
<p>Why can’t he get an apartment at this point? He couldn’t think ahead because he pledged and just didn’t get in. Same thing happened to the girl I know. They’re both nice, outgoing kids, don’t know what happened. Why don’t they have enough decent housing for everyone?</p>
<p>All of the good apartments are literally gone by October. He might be able to find something, but it will probably be owned by a slumlord.</p>
<p>As for why Cornell has such an idiotic housing system… nobody knows. Only a third of the sophomore class will be able to live on West Campus. That’s why I got an apartment to avoid the whole lottery mess. Good thing too, because my timeslot wound up being second to last.</p>
<p>@Saugus, by when would a freshman find out if they got on campus housing for sophomore year?</p>
<p>Relax, so many of us freshman didn’t rush or haven’t looked into apartments (most likely all booked) for next year, everything will sort itself out.</p>
<p>Another way to get off campus housing is through subletting. You could often get better and cheaper housing that way, except you would need to move twice, but you wouldn’t be responsible for summer rental. My older daughter was able to get into 312 College Ave through subletting. A lot of juniors go study abroad, and they often sublet their apartments. If you are a good negotiator you could get below market rent.</p>
<p>Find someone with a good timeslot and block with them.</p>
<p>As long as you have something on the first day, you can probably get a decent dorm; however, you need to have one of the first two timeslots to get something on West (not including the Gothics, but even those fill up by the time the 4th timeslot rolls around).</p>
<p>Amazon, the lottery is in February.</p>
<p>Really bad housing choices? The dorm buildings on West Campus are gorgeous.</p>
<p>Yeah but if you don’t get in - slumlords, sublets where you have to move, etc. Read the rest of the thread.</p>
<p>For what we pay, everyone should have decent housing choices. It’s not like Cornell is in Manhattan or DC where real estate is through the roof.</p>
<p>They do have choices - expensive collegetown apartments, dorms, and many other off campus housing. I have one kid who graduated few years ago. She never had any problem with housing. She studied abroad fall semester, so she sublet her spring semester. She and her best friend got an apartment in collegetown, but they didn’t like it, so they got out of the lease and found another sublet at 312 right away. Not sure why OP thinks it is so difficult to get decent housing at Cornell.</p>
<p>It all depends on circumstances. My D is not in a sorority by choice and therefore went into the lottery system for her sophomore year so that she could live on campus. It was indeed stressful. She did block with others and had a decent time slot, so she got lucky and landed in a nice dorm. But, there was a lot of drama when some were excluded from the blocking. </p>
<p>The process started all over again as a junior - this time, off campus. Again, there was much drama regarding where they would live and what they could afford - there was a wide variability, but luckily she found some students that were in the same financial situation.The whole process started right as school began so that they could find the better, affordable housing. </p>
<p>The off campus housing is not great if you can not afford the high rent district. My D has learned to adapt however and it has all worked out somehow.</p>
<p>I guess my son will be playing that game next year and the year after that. How much approximately is the expensive housing (and how nice is it?) and how much is the cheaper housing (approximately) and how much worse is it? I’d like him to study abroad for a semester junior year. How does that effect things?</p>
<p>My daughter went to Wash U and chose to live on campus all 4 years and it was absolutely no problem. Her last couple of years she was in suites with 6 or 7 girls, each of whom had her own bedroom.</p>
<p>No sorry - not next year - that’s his sophomore year when he’ll be living at the frat. The year after that.</p>
<p>If he is studying abroad for half of junior year hen he should take advantage of the sublets. He can get a really nice apartment like Oldfort suggested for a lot cheaper. Then he will only have to worry about senior year.</p>
<p>“Remember, on-campus housing is guaranteed for all sophomores who meet the application deadlines and participate in the room selection process.”</p>
<p>[Application</a> Process: Current Undergraduate Students](<a href=“Residential Life | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University”>Residential Life | Student & Campus Life | Cornell University)</p>
<p>We gave our older daughter same amount of money for room and board as if she would have lived on campus. We didn’t pay more than that. She took some of her food money to pay for extra rent. It was important to her to live in collegetown. It was her choice. Even though she was not on work study, she had a job on campus to pay for a parking spot for her car. </p>
<p>I used to wonder about having my kid live off campus junior and senior year, but I found it to be a nice transition to adulthood. She learned how to budget, cook meals and pay bills. We worked on her lease together so she learned what’s important in a lease. She had few landlord issues and was able to resolve them with a little assistance from me. When she graduated with a real job, she was able to get an apartment on her own - found the apartment and negotiated the contract. In my opinion, it is not a bad idea for students to live off campus while in college. It’s a life lesson.</p>